Anti-foreigner protests in South Africa: House of Mozambican citizen burned down in Pretoria

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Anti-foreigner protests in South Africa: House of Mozambican citizen burned down in Pretoria

8:41 CAT | 28 Feb 2017

Notícias

A Mozambican woman has seen her residence reduced to ashes following a fire set by South Africans who, for several days now, have been demonstrating against the presence of foreigners in their country, with an epicenter in the capital Pretoria.

The Mozambican High Commissioner in that country, Paulino Macaringue, who did not reveal the identity of the victim, said that the Mozambican citizen lived in Pretoria with a minor son, and had lost all her assets in the fire.

The embassy found itself in the contingency of issuing a new travel document so that she and the minor could return to Maputo.

“Of her own accord, she chose to return to the country. Thus, we provided all necessary support and she is already in Mozambique, “explained Macaringue.

The ambassador indicated that he was working to see if there were more Mozambicans affected. To that end, Macaringue said he was in contact with community leaders in the desolated areas in order to identify and provide all due support. “As you know, the zone (where the riots have been going on) is big and we have to do some investigative work to find out whether or not there are more (Mozambican) victims. Fortunately, so far we have no other indication of compatriots affected,” explained the diplomat.

Demonstrators accuse foreigners of being responsible for drug trafficking and prostitution. Xenophobic incidents have escalated in this country for the last two weeeks, with reports of several deaths, looting and burning of houses.

It should be noted that the two great manifestations of xenophobia recorded so far in South Africa had Mozambican citizens as emblematic victims. In 2008, Ernesto Nhamuave was burned alive and in 2015, Emmanuel Sithole was stabbed to death.

Source: Noticias